Dynasty Fantasy Football: 5 Keys to Navigating a Successful Rebuild

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There comes a point when you know your roster is tapped. Whether it’s a failure to launch situation where you find yourself languishing at the bottom of the table or multiple years barely sneaking into the playoffs. Maybe you’ve consistently missed the second season altogether lately. No worries, read on, this will talk you through the nuanced ins and outs of a dynasty rebuild.

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Keys to a Dynasty Rebuild

Learn Your League

Understand the personalities and tendencies of the other managers in your leagues. Everyone has a tell, it’s your job as a dynasty manager to identify them. Some will overvalue picks. Others prefer one position over another in most of their deals. Being able to have a secure grasp of all the people you’re playing with will help you navigate drafts and trades from a more advantageous position. Different personalities will make different decisions, being able to predict them will help you make the correct choices in your league.

Identify Your League’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Trading and drafting don’t always need to be as stressful as we make it out to be. Too often, dynasty GMs go into trade talks cold, without considering the needs of any teams outside of their own. This isn’t the right approach. Instead, GMs should study the other teams in their league and learn what teams lack on a position group by position group basis. A trade for one team may not make sense for another and all that’s ever needed is a single trade partner. Careful examination of your league’s other rosters will illuminate some deals you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. Even if your guy isn’t on the other squad be open to accumulating value in a rebuild, even if that means flipping those assets down the line.

Commit to a Type of Rebuild

There are several different ways to turn over a roster. There is the fire sale, which involves selling all assets and rebuilding from scratch, and a slow burn, which is more adequately described as a retool rather than a rebuild. Identify which route would better suit your team and commit to it. If a fire sale is your goal then you must be comfortable with trading anyone and everyone for the right price. If you have a team just out of contention but have a few young assets to build upon then a more measured approach could suit you. Either way, trading for the sake of trading isn’t a way to rebuild your roster. If you’ve been several spots out of the playoffs for multiple seasons, a new approach is required. Pick a lane and stick to it.

Have a Clear Plan

Don’t get caught in a perpetual rebuild. Too often dynasty managers find themselves waiting for the right guy to fall to them in the draft, put all of their eggs in one draft’s basket, or make deals with their young assets that leave them one step forward and two steps back in the long run. Don’t be that guy. Instead clearly set out to improve one position group at a time and diversify the picks you intend on using. Very rarely do the majority of first and second round picks in a single draft class pan out. If the guys you covet don’t make it to your draft slot it is often in your best interest to trade a year forward and try again next season. The goal is to maintain flexibility long enough for you to build a team that fits your wants and your ruleset. Take your time to do so but be structured about it.

Build Relationships

Finally, the most important and often overlooked element to even being able to execute the deals that will get your team back to the top involves the human to human relationships you have built in your league. Trades happen most often among friends or at least people that can level with each other and make an attempt to approach deals with respect to both parties. Consider making a smaller lateral deal early on for the purpose of bettering that relationship and using these to make your big moves in the future. Play nice and consider every offer and you’ll no doubt be able to pull your team back into contention.

Etan Mozia has been involved with sports as a whole for over two decades and has written about athletics in some capacity since 2005. Focused primarily on the NFL and EPL, Etan has seen his work featured on sites like FantasyPros, Advanced Sports Logic, and FFD260 among others. Currently, his work is housed on FantraxHQ and FantasyPros. An avid lover of dynasty leagues specifically, you can also listen to him on his podcast, The Dynasty Diagnostic (@DynoDiagnostic), as he breaks down rosters and provides pertinent and practical advice for dynasty squads looking to give their team an edge. Follow him on twitter @EtanMozia.

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